The Rewilding Immersion Program is actually over 10 years old. It is the brain child of me and my best friend Willem Larsen. For the last decade he and I have worked on various projects, trying to bring this program into the world. We came very close a few years back, but alas, it wasn’t the right time, and not the right people, not the right “setup“. Only now, after 10 years do we see the program taking its shape.
I consider this the “Oak Tree” model of growth. They take a long time to grow, but they are the strongest of trees. Each year the tree adds another ring to it’s heartwood. Many trees take several years before they bear any fruits or nuts. I can look at the rings of The Rewilding Immersion Program and see which years were harder, I can see years that we almost had fruit but instead a fire swept through. While the program has not taken place, the spirit of it has grown stronger and stronger.
If we had jumped into it and ran the program 10 years ago, or even two years ago, it would not have had the strength that it has today. It would have been awesome in its own right, but no where near the mind-blowing insanity of where it stands at the current moment. Now that I have my own business, Rewild Portland, the time has come. We could easily run the program this year, but we are giving ourselves two more years to really sink the fluency game teeth into all of the skills we want to teach in order to give the best setup possible to our students. It also provides us the opportunity to build up some hype!
Like anything I create these days, I like to allow for the time to process, stop and reflect along the way. Often, when I speed through things they end up falling apart. My goal this year is to simply continue to run Rewild Camp and get people interested in what we do. For now, I want to establish a nice root system of a client base: people who are interested to see what kinds of fruit this tree will sprout when the time is right. For now, we’ll look to the great Oaks of the Willamette Valley and add one ring at a time.
The Oak Tree Model of Growth
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Posted: October 29, 2010 by Peter Bauer
The Rewilding Immersion Program is actually over 10 years old. It is the brain child of me and my best friend Willem Larsen. For the last decade he and I have worked on various projects, trying to bring this program into the world. We came very close a few years back, but alas, it wasn’t the right time, and not the right people, not the right “setup“. Only now, after 10 years do we see the program taking its shape.
I consider this the “Oak Tree” model of growth. They take a long time to grow, but they are the strongest of trees. Each year the tree adds another ring to it’s heartwood. Many trees take several years before they bear any fruits or nuts. I can look at the rings of The Rewilding Immersion Program and see which years were harder, I can see years that we almost had fruit but instead a fire swept through. While the program has not taken place, the spirit of it has grown stronger and stronger.
If we had jumped into it and ran the program 10 years ago, or even two years ago, it would not have had the strength that it has today. It would have been awesome in its own right, but no where near the mind-blowing insanity of where it stands at the current moment. Now that I have my own business, Rewild Portland, the time has come. We could easily run the program this year, but we are giving ourselves two more years to really sink the fluency game teeth into all of the skills we want to teach in order to give the best setup possible to our students. It also provides us the opportunity to build up some hype!
Like anything I create these days, I like to allow for the time to process, stop and reflect along the way. Often, when I speed through things they end up falling apart. My goal this year is to simply continue to run Rewild Camp and get people interested in what we do. For now, I want to establish a nice root system of a client base: people who are interested to see what kinds of fruit this tree will sprout when the time is right. For now, we’ll look to the great Oaks of the Willamette Valley and add one ring at a time.
Category: Rewilding Immersion Program